This invention is in the field of dispensing devices.
Dispensing machines for dispensing cans of beverages or the like have been used heretofore and wherein a cabinet provided for the stacking of adjacent columns of articles with the articles aligned in a front to rear direction and wherein swingable bail means were provided to release the bottom articles, one at a time, from one column and then the other. Such devices often included means on a swingable bail or similar device to retain one article while the other was dropped therepast to a discharge station. Such machines, however, were subject to surreptitious theft of articles. This was possible by legitimately operating the machine to dispense the first article and then to violently shake or tilt the machine to cause the retained bottom article to move into the column previously occupied by the dispensed article whereupon that second article would be dispensed without deposit of an additional coin. Efforts were made to prevent such manipulation by providing partitions or partial partitions in the form of ribs between the front and rear columns. However, this necessitated a more expensive cabinet structure and had further disadvantages in that the ribs or partitions would often interfere with proper loading of the machine and in some instances would interfere with proper flow of the articles to the dispensing mechanism.